Method for controlling, charging, and positioning a ue in a small cell system

ABSTRACT

A method for controlling, charging and positioning a UE is disclosed, which includes: a master base station sending closed subscriber group (CSG) member status of the UE in a secondary cell to a secondary base station; the master base station sending a CSG identity of the secondary cell and a PLMN identity selected for the UE that serves the UE in a cell of the secondary base station to a mobility management entity (MME); the MME validating CSG member status of the UE in the secondary cell; and the MME sending the validated CSG member status to the master base station with the present application, the UE is able to properly access to the secondary cell, and access control and member validation, charging, and positioning may be performed for the UE reasonably, which improves the user experience.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION(S)

This application is a continuation application of prior application Ser.No. 15/113,984, filed on Jul. 25, 2016, which will issue as U.S. Pat.No. 10,447,700 on Oct. 15, 2019, which was the National Stage of anInternational application number PCT/KR2015/000804, filed on Jan. 26,2015, and was based on and claimed the benefit of a Chinese patentapplication number 201410040045, filed on Jan. 27, 2014 in the ChineseIntellectual Property Office, the disclosure of each which is herebyincorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to wireless communication technologies,and especially to a method for controlling, charging, and positioning aUE in a small cell system.

BACKGROUND ART

Modern mobile communication technologies tend to provide multi-mediaservices with a high transmission rate. FIG. 1 is a system architectureevolution (SAE) system architecture.

In FIG. 1, user equipment (UE) 101 is a terminal device that receivesdata. Evolved universal terrestrial radio access network (E-UTRAN) 102is a radio access network, which includes a macro base station(eNodeB/NodeB) that provides a radio network interface for the UE.Mobility management entity (MME) 103 is responsible for managingmobility context, session context and security information of the UE.Serving gateway (SGW) 104 is mainly responsible for providing a userplane, and the MME 103 and the SGW 104 may be located in a same physicalentity. Packet data network gateway (PGW) 105 is responsible forfunctions such as charging, lawful interception, etc., and it may alsobe located in a same physical entity with the SGW 104. Policy andcharging rules function (PCRF) 106 provides QoS policies and chargingrules. Serving GPRS support node (SGSN) 108 is a network node devicethat provides routing for data transmission in a universal mobiletelecommunications system (UMTS). Home subscriber server (HSS) 109 is ahome sub-system of the UE, responsible for protecting user informationsuch as a current location of the user equipment, an address of aserving node, user security information, packet data context of the userequipment, etc.

3GPP raises requirements of small cell enhancements in release 12(Rel-12). Targeted scenarios of small cell enhancements includescenarios with macro cell coverage and without macro cell coverage,indoor and outdoor scenarios, and enhancements for ideal and non-idealbackhaul, as shown in FIG. 2.

In the circumstance that there is macro cell coverage, a carrieraggregation technology between different base stations may be deployed.A Macro cell and a small cell may work at different frequency bands.There are two kinds of architectures when using the carrier aggregationtechnology between different base stations, namely radio-access-network(RAN) based separate architecture and core-network (CN) based separatearchitecture of user plane data. Core-network based separatearchitecture means that, for bearers that are set up in a pico cell,data is directly sent to the pico cell by a SGW of a core network, and auser plane will not be forwarded by a macro cell.

In the small cell architecture, a UE can send/receive data at two basestations at the same time, which is called dual-connectivity. One of thebase stations, which is responsible for sending radio resource control(RRC) messages to the UE and is responsible for interaction with a corenetwork control entity, is called a master base station, MeNB, and theother base station is a secondary base station, SeNB. There is a cell atthe master base station for the UE, which is a primary cell of the UE,Pcell, and RRC messages are sent to the UE via the primary cell, othercells are secondary cells, Scells. Among Scells of the secondary basestation, a Scell is a primary cell of the secondary base station, pScell(having functions of a pScell). There are uplink physical layer controlchannels in the pScell, and there is no uplink physical layer controlchannel in other Scells. A cell group of the master base station is amaster cell group (MCG) and a cell group of the secondary base stationis a secondary cell group (SCG).

DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION Technical Problem

The base stations in the small cell architecture may be a macro basestation, eNB, or may be a home base station, HeNB. In the circumstancethat the secondary base station is a HeNB, how to add a bearer in a cellof the secondary base station and how to perform access control andmember authentication for a UE when add the bearer in the cell of thesecondary base station is a problem that has not yet been solved in thetraditional art.

Meanwhile, how to charge and position a UE is a problem that has notbeen solved in the traditional art.

Solution to Problem

A method for controlling, charging and positioning a user equipment (UE)in a small cell system is provided according to the present invention.With the method of the present invention, reasonable access control andmember validation may be performed for the UE, and reasonable chargingand positioning may be performed for the UE, which improves the userexperience.

The method for controlling the UE includes:

a master base station sending closed subscriber group (CSG) memberstatus of the UE in a secondary cell to a secondary base station;

the master base station sending a CSG identity of the secondary cell anda PLMN identity selected for the UE that serves the UE in the secondarycell of the secondary base station to a mobility management entity(MME);

the MME validating the CSG member status of the UE in the secondarycell;

the MME sending a validated CSG member status to the master basestation; and

Preferably, the master base station sends the validated CSG memberstatus to the secondary base station when the validated CSG memberstatus is inconsistent with the CSG member status of the UE in thesecondary cell.

Preferably, the MME performs member validation for the UE according tothe CSG identity of the secondary cell and the PLMN identity that servesthe UE in the secondary cell of the secondary base station.

Preferably, when the PLMN identity selected by the master base stationfor the UE that serves the UE in the cell of the secondary base stationis inconsistent with a PLMN identity selected by the master base stationfor the UE that serves the UE in a cell of the master base station, themaster base station sends the PLMN identity selected for the UE thatserves the UE in the secondary cell of the secondary base station to theMME.

Preferably, the method further includes a step of:

if a PLMN identity or a CSG identity or CSG member status of a targetcell to which a bearer is handed over is inconsistent with that in asource cell, the MME sending the PLMN identity, and/or the CSG identity,and/or the CSG member status of the target cell to a serving gateway(SGW) and a packet data network gateway (PGW).

A method for charging and positioning a UE in a small cell system,characterized in that for charging and positioning a bearer includes:

a master base station sending a cell identity and/or TAI of a secondarycell where each bearer of the UE is located to a MME; and

the MME sending the cell identity and/or TAI of the cell where eachbearer is located and/or a bearer identity to a SGW and/or a PGW.

A method for charging and positioning a UE in a small cell system,characterized in that, for charging and positioning a primary secondarycell in a secondary base station (pScell) includes:

a master base station sending a cell identity and/or TAI of the pScellin the secondary base station of the UE and a bearer identity of abearer of the UE in the secondary base station to a MME; and

the MME sending a cell identity and/or TAI of a cell where each beareris located to a SGW and/or a PGW.

Preferably, the method further includes a step of: the secondary basestation sending the cell identity of the pScell to the master basestation.

A method for charging and positioning a UE in a small cell system,performing charging and positioning according to a primary cell of amaster base station, includes:

the master base station sending a cell identity and TAI of the primarycell of the master base station to a MME; and

the MME sending the cell identity and/or TAI of the primary cell of themaster base station to a SGW/a PGW.

Advantageous Effects of Invention

As is seen from the above technical solutions, with the methods forcontrolling, charging and positioning the UE in the small cell system,the UE is able to properly access to the secondary cell, and accesscontrol and member validation, charging, and positioning may beperformed for the UE reasonably, which improves the user experience.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a traditional SAE system architecture;

FIG. 2 is a small cell enhancement deployment scenario;

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a method for controlling, charging, andpositioning a UE in a small cell system according to the presentinvention;

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of a method for controlling, charging, andpositioning a UE in a small cell system according to embodiment 1 of thepresent invention;

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of a method for controlling, charging, andpositioning a UE in a small cell system according to embodiment 2 of thepresent invention;

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of method 1 for charging and positioning aUE in a small cell system according to the present invention; and

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of method 2 for charging and positioning aUE in a small cell system according to the present invention.

MODE FOR THE INVENTION

The object, technical solution and advantage of the present inventionwill be better understood after the present application is furtherdescribed with reference to the drawings in the following.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a method for controlling, charging, andpositioning a UE in a small cell system according to the presentinvention. The method includes the following process.

At step 301, a master base station sends closed subscriber group (CSG)member status of the UE in a cell of a secondary base station to thesecondary base station. The master base station sends the CSG memberstatus of the UE in the cell of the secondary base station to thesecondary base station when the master base station add the cell of thesecondary base station or modify the cell of the secondary base station.The master base station may send CSG member status of the UE in asecondary cell of the secondary base station to the secondary basestation via a secondary cell group (SCG) command or via a secondary eNBaddition or modification message.

The master base station receives the CSG member status information ofthe UE in the secondary cell from the UE. The master base stationobtains a CSG identity of the secondary cell from the UE or via an X2setup procedure or via operations & maintenance (O&M).

If the secondary base station is a home base station, then the masterbase station may add a cell of the secondary base station into asecondary cell group in the following three situations:

the cell of the home base station being in an open mode, or the cell ofthe home base station being in a hybrid access mode, or the cell of thehome base station being in closed subscriber group mode and the cell ofthe home base station and a source cell from which a bearer is handedover belong to a same CSG.

In the present method, when the cell of the home base station is inclosed subscriber group mode and the cell of the home base station and aprimary cell of the master base station belong to a same CSG, the cellof the secondary base station may also be added to the secondary cellgroup. Two cells belonging to a same CSG means that CSG identitiesbroadcasted by the two cells are the same and public land mobile network(PLMN) identities (IDs) broadcasted by the two cells contain a same PLMNID.

When the cell of the home base station is in the hybrid access mode, themaster base station sends the CSG member status of the UE in the cell ofthe home base station to the secondary base station.

The master base station knows the access mode of the cell of thesecondary base station according to configuration or according to an X2setup procedure or from the UE.

If the secondary base station accepts addition or modification of asecondary cell, the secondary base station sends a successful responseto the master base station.

The secondary base station treats the UE according to the received CSGmember status. The secondary base station may differentiate between aCSG member and a non-CSG member to decide whether to handover the UE ornot, which guaranteed bit rate (GBR) bears are to accept, or which GBRbearers are to delete. The secondary base station may differentiatebetween a CSG member and a non-CSG member to decide data scheduling fora non-GBR bearer over an air interface.

At step 302, the master base station sends a CSG ID of a secondary cell,CSG member status, and a PLMN ID that serves the UE in the secondarycell to the MME.

The CSG member status needs to be contained, only when the secondarycell is in the hybrid access mode, and the secondary cell and theprimary cell of the master base station or and a source cell from whicha bearer is handed over belong to different CSGs. Two cells belonging todifferent CSGs means that CSG identities of the two cells are differentor the two cells have not broadcasted a same PLMN ID, or one of thecells is a CSG or hybrid cell while the other cell is in the open mode.

The master base station may send the information to the MME whensuccessful setup or modification of a bearer in the secondary cell isreceived at step 301.

If a cell of the secondary base station broadcasts multiple PLMNidentities, the master base station selects a PLMN ID of a PLMN thatserves the UE in the cell of the secondary base station.

In the circumstance that a secondary cell of the secondary base stationis a CSG cell, or is in hybrid accessmode and is a CSG member cell, theUE sends a PLMN ID list to the master base station. The PLMN ID list isa list of, among PLMN IDs broadcasted by the secondary cell of thesecondary base station, a PLMN ID that is a rPLMN ID or ePLMN ID of theUE, and the PLMN ID and a CSG ID broadcasted by the secondary cell arein a CSG list which can be accessed by the UE. According to the reportof the UE, the master base station validates that the PLMN ID reportedby the UE being a registered PLMN identity of the UE, rPLMN ID, or beingan equivalent PLMN identity of the UE, ePLMN ID, and selects one thatpasses the validation to be the PLMN ID of the PLMN that serves the UEin the secondary cell of the secondary base station

In the circumstance that the secondary cell of the secondary basestation is in open mode or hybrid access mode and is not a CSG membercell, the master base station knows the PLMN ID list broadcasted by thesecondary cell according to report of the UE (e.g., automatic neighborrelation (ANR)) or by X2 setup or by O&M configuration, and the masterbase station selects a PLMN identity that is a rPLMN ID or ePLMN ID ofthe UE from the PLMN identities broadcasted by the secondary cell to bethe PLMN ID of the PLMN that serves the UE in the secondary cell of thesecondary base station.

The master base station sends the PLMN identity of the PLMN that servesthe UE in the cell of the secondary base station to the secondary basestation.

The master base station may send the PLMN identity of the PLMN thatserves the UE in the cell of the secondary base station to the MME via apath switch request message or via a ERAB Modification Indicationmessage. If there are a plurality of secondary cells and PLMN identitiesthat serve the UE in the respective secondary cells are different, themaster base station may send a CSG identity and a PLMN identity thatcorrespond to each secondary cell to the MME.

If the PLMN identity of a PLMN that serves the UE in the secondary cellof the secondary base station is the same with that of the primary cellof the master base station, then the master base station may only sendthe CSG identity of the secondary cell of the secondary base station tothe MME. The MME knows that the PLMN that serves the UE in the secondarycell of the secondary base station is rPLMN according to no PLMNidentity being present.

Or if the PLMN identity of the PLMN that serves the UE in the secondarycell of the secondary base station is the same with that of a sourcecell from which a bearer is handed over, then the master base stationmay only send the CSG identity of the secondary cell of the secondarybase station to the MME. The MME knows that the PLMN ID that serves theUE in the secondary cell of the secondary base station is the same witha PLMN ID that serves the UE in the source cell from which the bearer ishanded over according to no PLMN identity being present.

In the small cell architecture, the network may perform differentcharging and positioning for different ERABs. To support this kind ofmechanism, the master base station also notifies the MME of a cellidentity and TAI of a target cell to which the bearer is handed over.The TAI may contain the PLMN identity that serves the UE in the cell ofthe secondary base station. In this case, it may be unnecessary to sendthe above single PLMN identity repeatedly.

At step 303, the MME validates member status of the UE in the secondarycell. The MME validates the member status of the UE according to thePLMN identity and CSG identity of the secondary cell. The PLMN identityof the secondary cell is a PLMN identity of the secondary cell receivedfrom the master base station, and it may be a PLMN identity broadcastedby the secondary cell, or may be a PLMN identity that serves the UE inthe secondary cell selected by the master base station from PLMNidentities broadcasted by the secondary cell.

In the small cell architecture, the network may perform differentcharging and positioning for different ERABs. To support this kind ofmechanism, if a PLMN identity or CSG identity or CSG member status of atarget cell to which a bearer is handed over is not the same with thatof a source cell, the MME sends the PLMN identity and/or CSG identityand/or CSG member status of the target cell to the SGW and PGW, so thatthe network may perform different charging and positioning forrespective bearers. CSG identities being different includes a situationwhere a target cell and a source cell both have CSG identities and theCSG identities are different and a situation where one of a target celland a source cell has a CSG identity while the other does not, i.e., inthe open mode.

In the small cell architecture, the network may perform differentcharging and positioning for different ERABs. To support this kind ofmechanism, the MME sends a cell identity and TAI of the target cell tothe SGW and PGW, so that the network may perform different charging andpositioning for each bearer.

At step 304, the MME sends a validated CSG member status of the UE inthe secondary cell to the master base station. The MME may send thevalidated CSG member status of the UE in the secondary cell to themaster base station in the circumstance that a target cell to which abearer is handed over is a hybrid cell and the target cell and a sourcecell belong to different CSGs, or the source cell does not have a CSGidentity.

The master base station sends the validated CSG member status of the UEto the secondary base station. The master base station may send thevalidated CSG member status of the UE in the secondary cell to thesecondary base station all the time or send the validated CSG memberstatus to the secondary base station when the validated CSG memberstatus of the UE is different from that is sent in step 301.

With the above method, when the target cell is a cell of a home basestation, proper access control or member verification may be performedfor the UE so that the network can perform reasonable charging andpositioning for the UE.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of a method for controlling, charging, andpositioning a UE in a small cell system according to embodiment 1 of thepresent invention. The method includes the following steps.

At step 401, a master base station receives a measure report of the UE,the master base station decides to hand over a certain bearer to a cellof a secondary base station, which includes handing over the bearer fromthe master base station to the secondary base station or handing overthe bearer from one secondary base station to a new secondary basestation. For the situation of handing over the bearer from the sourcesecondary base station to the new secondary base station, a process ofhandover between the master base station and the source secondary basestation is omitted. Multiple bearers may be handed over, and methods ofhanding over multiple bearers are the same with that of handing over onebearer. Herein one bearer is used for illustration.

In the circumstance that the secondary base station is in the home basestation open mode, or hybrid access mode, or in CSG mode and the cell ofthe secondary base station and a source cell from which the bearer ishanded over are in a same CSG, the secondary cell may be added to asecondary cell group of the UE. In the method of the present invention,the secondary cell may be added to the secondary cell group of the UEwhen the cell of the secondary base station and the primary cell of themaster base station belong to a same CSG.

How the master base station to obtain the access mode of the cell of thesecondary base station, how to obtain the CSG identity of the cell ofthe secondary base station when the access mode is CSG or hybrid accessmode, and how to obtain CSG member status of the UE in the hybridsecondary cell from the UE are the same with that in step 301, whichwill not be elaborated herein.

At step 402, the master base station sends a secondary cell setuprequest message to the secondary base station. The message may also be asecondary eNB addition request, used to set up a bearer in the cell ofthe secondary base station.

If a new cell of the secondary base station is a hybrid cell, the masterbase station sends CSG member status of the UE in the cell of thesecondary base station to the secondary base station. The master basestation obtains the CSG member status of the UE in the secondary cellfrom the UE.

If the cell of the secondary base station broadcasts multiple PLMNidentities, the master base station selects a PLMN identity that servesthe UE in the cell of the secondary base station. The detailed selectionmethod is the same with that in step 302, and will not be elaboratedherein. The master base station sends the selected PLMN identity to thesecondary base station.

At step 403, the secondary base station sends a Scell setup response orSeNB addition acknowledgement message to the master base station.

At step 404, the master base station reconfigures the UE.

At step 405, the master base station sends a path switch request messageto the MME. The message may also be other messages used for bearerhandover. The message contains a CSG identity of a target cell to whicha bearer is handed over, and a PLMM identity that is selected for the UEin the target Scell. The message may also contain a cell identity and/ortracking area identity (TAI) of the target cell to which the bearer ishanded over.

If multiple bearers are handed over to multiple cells of the secondarybase station respectively, and a PLMN identity that serves the UE ineach cell may be different, the master base station may send the PLMNidentity corresponding to each cell to the MME.

If multiple bearers are handed over to multiple cells of the secondarybase stations, and a CSG identity of each cell may be different, themaster base station may send the CSG identity corresponding to each cellto the MME.

If multiple bearers are handed over to multiple cells of the secondarybase station respectively and a CSG of each cell may be different, themaster base station may send a CSG identity and a PLMN identitycorresponding to each cell to the MME.

If the PLMN identity of the PLMN that serves the UE in the secondarycell of the secondary base station is the same with that in the primarycell of the master base station, the master base station may only send aCSG identity of the secondary cell of the secondary base station to theMME. The MME knows that the PLMN identity that serves the UE in thesecondary cell of the secondary base station is a rPLMNID of the primarycell of the master base station according to no PLMN identity beingpresent.

Or if the PLMN identity of the PLMN that serves the UE in the secondarycell of the secondary base station is the same with that in the sourcecell from which the bearer is handed over, then the master base stationmay only send the CSG identity of the secondary cell of the secondarybase station to the MME. The MME knows that the PLMN identity thatserves the UE in the secondary cell of the secondary base station is thesame with the PLMN identity of the source cell from which the bearer ishanded over according to no PLMN identity being present.

In the small cell architecture, the network may perform differentcharging and positioning for different ERABs. To support this kind ofmechanism, the master base station also notifies the MME of the cellidentity and TAI of the target cell to which a bearer is handed over.The TAI may contain a PLMN identity that serves the UE in the cell ofthe secondary base station. In this circumstance, it may be unnecessaryto send the above single PLMN identity repeatedly.

The MME validates the member status of the UE in the secondary cell. TheMME verify the member status of the UE according to the PLMN identityand CSG identity of the secondary cell. The detailed method is the samewith that in step 303 and will not be elaborated herein.

At step 406, the MME sends a modify bearer request message to theSGW/PGW.

In the small cell architecture, the network may perform differentcharging for different ERABs. To support this kind of mechanism, if thePLMN identity or CSG identity or CSG member status of the target cell towhich the bearer is handed over is different from that in the sourcecell, the MME sends a PLMN identity and/or CSG identity and/or CSGmember status of the target cell to which the bearer is handed over tothe SGW and the PGW, so that the network may perform different chargingfor each bearer.

In the small cell architecture, the network may perform differentcharging and positioning for different ERABs. To support this kind ofmechanism, the MME sends a cell identity and TAI of a target cell to theSGW and the PGW, so that different charging and positioning may beperformed for each bearer in the network.

At step 407, the SGW/PGW sends a modify bearer response message to theMME.

At step 408, the MME sends a path switch request acknowledgment messageto the master base station. The message may be other response messagefor bearer handover. The message contains CSG member status, and the CSGmember status is the validated member status by the MME. The MME maysend the validated member status of the UE in the secondary cell to themaster base station when the target cell to which the bearer is handedover is a hybrid cell and the target cell and the source cell belong todifferent CSGs, or when the target cell to which the bearer is handedover is a hybrid cell and the source cell is in the open mode.

At step 409, the master base station sends a Scell modification requestmessage to the secondary base station. The Scell modification requestmessage contains CSG member status. The CSG member status is thevalidated CSG member status received from the MME. The master basestation may send the validated CSG member status of the UE to thesecondary base station all the time, or send the validated CSG memberstatus to the secondary base station when the validated CSG memberstatus of the UE is different from that sent in step 402.

At step 410, the secondary base station sends a Scell modificationresponse message to the master base station. In the present method, thisstep is not essential.

Providing the processing method in FIG. 4, when a target cell is a homebase station cell, proper access control and member validation may beperformed for the UE, so that the network can perform reasonablecharging and positioning for the UE.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of a method for controlling, charging andpositioning a UE in a small cell system according to embodiment 2 of thepresent invention. The method includes the following steps.

At step 501, the MME sends a UE context modification request message tothe master base station to inform the master base station of the CSGmember status of the UE in a certain cell or in a certain CSG. The MMEdiscovers that the UE member status is changed between a member and anon-member under a certain CSG according to update of subscriptioninformation of the UE, and the MME needs to notify this to the basestation. The MME notifies the base station of a corresponding cellidentity and updated CSG member status, or the MME notifies the basestation of the PLMN ID, CSG ID and updated CSG member status. The CSGincludes the cell accessing mode being CSG access mode and hybrid accessmode.

At step 502, the master base station sends a UE context modificationresponse message to the MME.

At step 503, the master base station receives the update information ofthe CSG member status of the UE in the Scell. If the Scell is a CSGcell, and if the UE changes from a member to a non-member in the Scell,then the master base station deletes bearers in the Scell or hands overthe bearers to other cells.

If the Scell is a hybrid mode cell, the master base station sends a Scell modification request to the secondary base station. The messagecontains CSG member status, and the member status indicates updatedmember status. The Scell modification request also contains a cellidentity of the secondary cell.

The step 502 and step 503 do not have a decisive order.

At step 504, the secondary base station sends a Scell modificationresponse message to the master base station. In the method of thepresent invention, the step is not an essential one.

By way of the processing method given in FIG. 5, the base station isupdated in time to get updated CSG member status and the UE iscontrolled and scheduled reasonably.

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of a method 1 for charging and positioninga UE in a small cell system according to the present invention. Themethod includes the following steps.

At step 601, a master base station sends a cell identity and/or TAI of asecondary cell where a bearer of the UE is located to a MME. The masterbase station sends a cell identity and/or TAI of a primary cell of themaster base station to the MME via an existing message. The master basestation sends a cell identity and/or TAI of a Scell where each bearer islocated to the MME via a ERAB setup list. The ERAB setup list containsinformation on each ERAB to be setup, e.g., an ERAB identity, a cellidentity and/or TAI of a cell where an ERAB is located.

At step 602, the MME sends the cell identity and/or TAI of the cellwhere each bearer is located and/or a bearer identity to a SGW/PGW.

When a cell identity and/or TAI of a cell where a certain ERAB islocated changes, the master base station sends a changed cell identityand/or TAI of a cell where the certain ERAB is located and/or a beareridentity to the MME, and the MME sends the changed cell identity and/orTAI of the cell where the bearer is located and/or the bearer identityto the a SGW/PGW.

The cell identity in the present invention may be an E-UTRAN Cell GlobalIdentifier (ECGI).

By way of the processing method given in FIG. 6, the network may performERAB-based charging and positioning to guarantee that the charging andpositioning is performed more reasonably and precisely.

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of a second method for charging andpositioning a UE in a small cell system according to the presentinvention. The method includes the following steps.

At step 701, a master base station sends a cell identity and TAI of apScell in a secondary base station of the UE and a bear identity of abearer in the secondary base station. If there are a plurality ofbearers, then a plurality of bearer identities are sent to a MME,namely, letting the MME know which bearers are in the secondary basestation, and the cell identity and TAI of the pScell of the secondarybase station. The master base station may send a cell identity and/orTAI of a primary cell of the master base station to the MME via anexisting message. The master base station may send a cell identityand/or TAI of a pScell in SeNB to the MME. The ERAB setup list containsinformation on each setup ERAB, e.g., an ERAB identity, and/or a cellidentity and/or TAI of a cell where an ERAB is located.

In the situation that a SeNB selects a pScell, the SeNB sends a cellidentity of a selected pScell to the master base station.

At step 702, the MME sends the cell identity and/or TAI of a pScell inSeNB to a SGW/PGW. The MME may send the cell identity and/or TAI and/orbearer identity where each bearer is located to the SGW/PGW.

When a certain ERAB is handed over between the master base station andthe secondary base station, the master base station sends a cellidentity and/or TAI of a target cell where the bearer belongs and/or abearer identity to the MME, and the MME sends the cell identity and/orTAI of the target cell where the bearer belongs and/or the beareridentity to the SGW/PGW.

The cell identity in the present invention may be an ECGI.

By way of the processing method given in FIG. 7, the network may performERAB-based charging and positioning to guarantee that the charging andpositioning is performed more reasonably and precisely.

The third method for charging and positioning a UE in a small cellsystem according to the present invention is performing charging andpositioning according to a primary cell of a master base station. Themethod includes the following steps.

The master base station sends a cell identity and TAI of the primarycell of the master base station to a MME. The MME sends the cellidentity and/or TAI of the primary cell of the master base station to aSGW/PGW.

It should be understood that the foregoing is only preferred embodimentsof the invention and is not intended to limit the present invention. Anymodification, equivalent substitution, and improvement without departingfrom the spirit and principle of this invention should be covered in theprotection scope of the invention.

1. (canceled)
 2. A method of a first network entity in a wirelesscommunication system, the method comprising: receiving, from a firstbase station, a location report message including a cell identity of aprimary secondary cell (PSCell) of a second base station for a terminal;determining a location of the terminal based on the location reportmessage; and performing a mobility management for the terminal based onthe location of the terminal.
 3. The method of claim 2, wherein thelocation report message further includes a tracking area identity (TAI).4. The method of claim 2, further comprising: transmitting the cellidentity of the PSCell to a second network entity based on the locationof the terminal in case that the location of the terminal is changed. 5.The method of claim 2, wherein the cell identity of the PSCell of thesecond base station is transmitted from the second base station to thefirst base station.
 6. A method of a first base station in a wirelesscommunication system, the method comprising: generating a locationreport message including a cell identity of a primary secondary cell(PSCell) of a second base station for a terminal; and transmitting, to afirst network entity, the location report message, wherein the locationreport message is used to determine a location of the terminal for amobility management for the terminal.
 7. The method of claim 6, whereinthe location report message further includes a tracking area identity(TAI).
 8. The method of claim 6, wherein the cell identity of the PSCellis transmitted from the first network entity to a second network entitybased on the location of the terminal in case that the location of theterminal is changed.
 9. The method of claim 6, wherein generating thelocation report message further comprises receiving, from the secondbase station, the cell identity of the PSCell of the second base stationfor the terminal.
 10. A first network entity in a wireless communicationsystem, the first network entity comprising: a transceiver; and acontroller coupled with the transceiver and configured to: receive, froma first base station, a location report message including a cellidentity of a primary secondary cell (PSCell) of a second base stationfor a terminal, determine a location of the terminal based on thelocation report message, and perform a mobility management for theterminal based on the location of the terminal.
 11. The first networkentity of claim 10, wherein the location report message further includesa tracking area identity (TAI).
 12. The first network entity of claim10, wherein the controller is further configured to transmit the cellidentity of the PSCell to a second network entity based on the locationof the terminal in case that the location of the terminal is changed.13. The first network entity of claim 10, wherein the cell identity ofthe PSCell of the second base station is transmitted from the secondbase station to the first base station.
 14. A first base station in awireless communication system, the first base station comprising: atransceiver; and a controller coupled with the transceiver andconfigured to: generate a location report message including a cellidentity of a primary secondary cell (PSCell) of a second base stationfor a terminal, and transmit, to a first network entity, the locationreport message, wherein the location report message is used to determinea location of the terminal for a mobility management for the terminal.15. The first base station of claim 14, wherein the location reportmessage further includes a tracking area identity (TAI).
 16. The firstbase station of claim 14, wherein the cell identity of the PSCell istransmitted from the first network entity to a second network entitybased on the location of the terminal in case that the location of theterminal is changed.
 17. The first base station of claim 14, wherein thecontroller is further configured to receive, from the second basestation, the cell identity of the PSCell of the second base station forthe terminal.